How Japan's Nuclear Fears Are Manifested In A Cartoon Character

Many Japanese are anti-nuclear — and for good and obvious reasons. The nuclear disaster at Fukushima has made many question how safe nuclear power is, resulting in the country's decision to take 48 of its 50 nuclear plants offline. It's also why the government is pledging to end its dependence on nuclear power in the future.

But the government isn't the only one that seems to be giving up nuclear power. Anime character Doraemon, the beloved robotic cat from the future, is nuclear-powered.

In Japan, Doraemon is iconic. The character debuted in 1969 and became wildly popular in the following decades, coinciding with the country's boom in construction. Even though the lingering scars of World War II were still felt, Nuclear power was instrumental in helping the country get the necessary energy to power its rapid growth. Nuclear power was seen as something futuristic.

That's why in the past editions of The Doraemon Encyclopedia, one description in the Doraemon cross-section read: "Atomic Reactor: Whatever he eats turns into nuclear energy."

According to Twitter user @FUKUBLOG, the words "nuclear reactor" and "nuclear" have been removed from what looks to be The Doraemon Encyclopedia's latest edition. Instead, the cross-section now reads: "Whatever he eats turns into energy."

With public sentiment turning against nuclear power and the words still conjuring images of Fukushima, their exclusion is hardly surprising.

Story time! I went to an all-girls’ school. My friends and I had that special bond of closeness that apparently comes with synced-up periods and measuring the length of each other’s winter leg hair.
This, obviously, led to a brief era of trying to catch one of the others unawares with the most impressive, most unexpected spank possible. We’re talking sneaking up behind each other in the hallway and laying one down that made the earth shake. If I couldn’t read your palm from the imprint, you weren’t doing a good enough job.